


so enlist every ounce of your bright blood (and off with their heads)

by SilverLiningShadows



Category: Homestuck
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, Doomed Timeline(s) (Homestuck), Doomed Timelines, F/F, Fluff and Angst, Flushed Romance | Matesprits, GAME OVER Timeline (Homestuck), Grief/Mourning, Hurt/Comfort, Imprisonment, M/M, Major Character Injury, Mind Control, Sadstuck, we hate Gamzee in this house
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-19
Updated: 2020-12-19
Packaged: 2021-03-11 00:41:53
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,441
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28146279
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SilverLiningShadows/pseuds/SilverLiningShadows
Summary: She pauses to think for a moment, then smiles. You're somehow more afraid than you were a few seconds ago. "Halibut this: you get the frog for me or—"There's a flash of green and Jade and Dave are suddenly next to her. Dave looks around, makes eye contact with you, and suddenly he's jumping at the Condesce. She throws her trident and impales him in the chest, pinning him to the wall. He slumps over and you cry out. Before you have time to think Jane appears on her other side, holding Rose by the throat. She drops the Seer and she collapses to the floor in a bloody heap. Kanaya moves to protect Rose, but the Drones raise their arms in a threat. She stills, eyes flickering between the Empress and her matesprite. You're trying to control your breathing, but Dave isn't looking too good with all of the blood pooling around him and you're pretty sure his death would justify as heroic, so you're kind of freaking out. The irregular rise and fall of his chest is only a slight reassurance.The Condesce motions to the two humans. "—I kill your matesprites."
Relationships: Dave Strider/Karkat Vantas, Gamzee Makara/Dave Strider (one-sided), Past Gamzee Makara/Terezi Pyrope, Past Terezi Pyrope/Dave Strider/Karkat Vantas, Rose Lalonde/Kanaya Maryam, past Terezi Pyrope/Dave Strider, past Terezi Pyrope/Karkat Vantas
Kudos: 19





	so enlist every ounce of your bright blood (and off with their heads)

Your name is Karkat Vantas and you're not quite sure where it all started going wrong, but you know you're fucked.

You think it might have been when John's human mother resurrected Jade, but everything was a shit show before that too. Jade's power basically made it impossible for any of you to outdo the Condesce's mind-controlled lackeys, and once she killed Vriska's weird Ancestor, you knew it was over. You had just enough time to watch Gamzee drop Terezi into lava before Jade jumped over and whisked you away. And now you're here.

In front of Her Imperious Condescension.

You and Kanaya are kneeling on the ground in front of her, drones surrounding you. "So," she says, tapping her foot. "You're gunna release ma frog or what?" You don't really know how you expected her to speak, but it's off-putting how much she sounds like Meenah.

For once in your life you are actually at a loss for words. You've spent your entire existence hiding from anyone who would cull you for your blood, and now you're in front of the one who marked you for slaughter. You're about to open your mouth to spew some bullshit even less thought out than it normally is when Kanaya speaks. "No, I don't think we will." You told Jade as much earlier, and you completely agree, but something about defying the near-immortal ruler of your dead race sends a chill down your spine.

"Hm." She pauses to think for a moment, then smiles. You're somehow more afraid than you were a few seconds ago. "Halibut this: you get the frog for me or—"

There's a flash of green and Jade and Dave are suddenly next to her. Dave looks around, makes eye contact with you, and suddenly he's jumping at the Condesce. She throws her trident and impales him in the chest, pinning him to the wall. He slumps over and you cry out. Before you have time to think Jane appears on her other side, holding Rose by the throat. She drops the Seer and she collapses to the floor in a bloody heap. Kanaya moves to protect Rose, but the Drones raise their arms in a threat. She stills, eyes flickering between the Empress and her matesprite. You're trying to control your breathing, but Dave isn't looking too good with all of the blood pooling around him and you're pretty sure his death would justify as heroic, so you're kind of freaking out. The irregular rise and fall of his chest is only a slight reassurance.

The Condesce motions to the two humans. "—I kill your matesprites." Your eyes widen. You have no idea how she knew about Dave but you won't let anything happen to him. You're sure Kanaya feels the same way. 

You look into Jade's eyes for any signs of remorse but only see cruel glee. "I'm sure we can find ways to make their deaths heroic, don't you, Jane?" Jane is silent.

Besides, the four of you may be the only ones left.

Dave's head raises a little. "Just because bird-me broke your heart doesn't mean you have to take it out on us." He spits out the words, along with a bit of blood. Jade growls and moves towards him, but obeys when the Condesce motions for her to stop.

"Whale?"

This time you cut off Kanaya. "Fine, we'll get your fucking frog."

The Empress pulls her trident from Dave's chest and he collapses to the ground, coughing.

"Sea, it's so much easier when all of us are carporating. With the frog you're fishing for, ma three Troll subjects are gunna become thousands." You're wondering who the third is when Gamzee emerges from the shadows behind her. He smiles at you before grabbing Dave and Rose's hoods. Dave struggles weakly before Gamzee hits him on the head, causing him to go limp. He drags them away.

"Now attend to your bidness, bitch." 

...

Your name is Dave Strider and you can feel when everything shifts from the Alpha Timeline to a doomed one.

You wake up in a purple room with bars over the windows. You're supposed to be a god but you feel pretty fucking weak right now. Apparently getting stabbed through the chest doesn't heal overnight, and that's on top of the broken bones Jade gave you. You're pretty sure you're on Derse (hence the purple), but the room's got a bed and some other furniture in it so it's not the worst prison cell. You're not trying to stick around and bask in its glory, though.

You sit up and your vision goes dark for a second. You guess blood loss still affects gods, so you wait it out. You inch off of the bed and make your way to the door, leaning on the wall. The door's locked, obviously. You don't even know why you tried. It's not as if any of this matters anymore in the grand scheme of things. You try to use this reasoning to ignore the—not literal—hole in your chest from your loss. You're trying not to think about her. 

The only other features of interest are a bathroom (still purple) connected to the room and a window overlooking the rest of Derse. The view makes you kind of nostalgic for your dreaming days.

Nostalgia must overtake you because soon you fall into a restless sleep.

...

Your name is Kanaya Mariyam and you will do anything for your matesprite.

Echidna is hesitant to release the frog, and while you are too, you refuse to take no for an answer. You do not wish to subject another universe to her tyrannical rule, but Rose is all you have left, and you will do whatever is necessary to keep her alive.

Karkat fidgets beside you while you plead with the Mother of Denizens. You tell her you'll both try to be a calming force on whatever the Condesce has planned for the new Universe. You don't tell her any criticisms will likely be futile. After a long conversation Echidna agrees.

You try to drown out your sense of dread with your relief that Rose will live another day.

...

Your name is Rose Lalonde and you have never felt so hopeless.

You're trapped in a room on Derse being used as a hostage to force your girlfriend to assist a tyrant in her conquest of a new universe. 

It is not an ideal situation.

It has been many days and you have not seen your brother, Kanaya, or even Karkat yet. You have spent the time trying to figure out if anyone else is alive, tending to your wounds, and avoiding the one who brings you the bandages for said wounds. In a horrifying turn of events, it seems Gamzee has been appointed to bring you supplies. Every time he enters the room he does so with a leering grin and a derogatory remark. His eyes linger on you for too long and you wish Terezi was here to put him in his place. You wish she was here for many other reasons too, but most of them stem from your worry for Dave. You weren't a good auspistice, but you're certainly not cut out for any other type of relationship with the clown. You suppose it doesn't matter now.

Despite all of your uncertainty and fear, you do know one thing: you watched Terezi and John die, and they're not coming back. 

...

The Condesce allows you time with your matesprites after the frog is released.

You're pretty pissed that she won't set them free, but you didn't think it'd be that easy either. When the Drones open the door to Dave's cell, you rush in to take stock of his condition. Last time you saw him, he had been impaled and sickly looking. Now, he still looks like he's ill, but at least he doesn't seem to have one foot in the grave. The door is slammed shut and you kneel on the bed next to where he is laying across it, seemingly sluggish.

You take his head in your hands and gingerly turn it, inspecting for damage. "Dave! You stupid fuck are you okay? What has she done to you? I'm going to fucking kill her I—"

His hand comes up to cover your own. "Chill, Karkles," he rasps. "I'm fine." The effort it takes for him to sit up says otherwise. You move your other hand to support his back as he struggles, then slumps against you, head on your shoulder. You lift his shirt to continue your survey as he continues. "Better than fucking dying, I guess, so there's that." You're both silent for a second, busy contemplating the loss that hangs over you. 

After you're done choking on your grief, you push him away from you and manage to remove his shirt only to find the shittiest patch job you've ever seen. "Strider, what the fuck is that? I know you used to fight your Lusus, so why do these bandages look like literal garbage?"

You move to find clean bandages while Dave prattles on, sinking back onto the bed. "I was thinking about doing it properly but then I thought 'wow, Karkat will definitely be sad he missed out on oogleing my hot bod' so i decided against it." You find some in the ablution chamber and make your way back to Dave, sitting him up again. He hisses and leans back against you while you wrap the bandages around the gaping hole in his chest. When you're done, he presses a kiss to your cheek and you turn your head to meet his lips with your own. You pull him back and arrange him against the pillows, his head on your chest.

Now that you're not looking at his face, you feel like you can say it without completely breaking down. "I miss her."

You feel him tense, then pull closer to you. "Yeah, me too."

Your fingers comb through his hair until his breathing slows. You haven't slept in days, feeling constantly on edge from the Condesce's demands. But being with Dave, you find yourself being pulled into sleep as well. 

It's almost peaceful until the Drones come in and drag you away.

...

You're still feeling pretty weak, but your need to escape is strong.

You know nothing really matters at this point, but you can't stand to be played to the whims of an alien dictator. You don't want to die in a prison cell like some schmuck. So, every day, you go to the bars of the window, and you try to tug them apart. You know it's a long way down, but you can fly, and even if you fall, you're pretty sure your death would be so shitty that you would have to qualify for resurrection. The absconding part isn't the problem, it's how you'll manage to get to that point. Right now, there are two obstacles in your way.

1\. Getting the shit beat out of you by a god-dog really affects your muscles' capabilities.

2\. The clown.

Every day Gamzee brings you your meals and bandages, and every time he beats the shit out of you. 

In a weak attempt to avenge Terezi, you had attacked him the first time. You were never sure exactly what the fuck was going on between you, Terezi and Karkat, but you guess you'll never know now and it's all the clown's fault. At first, you think he was mopping the floor with your ass to gloat. But now, you're pretty sure he’s looking for someone to fill the hate-fuck quadrant since Terezi's gone.

You try not to think about her.

You try not to think about any of it, really, and aim to give the clown a run for his money. The issue with that is that you still haven't healed from your near bisection, and him coming at you every day isn't helping. You'll admit you've gotten a few good punches in, but you've always fought best with a sword, and the fucker seems like he’s used to beating people with blunt objects.

You prefer the fighting, though, cause one time when you were sleeping, you woke up to a horrible stench. You opened your eyes and murderclown was hovering right over you with lust in his eyes, trying to put one on you. You kicked him really hard in the nuts, which seemed to switch his brain back to your regularly scheduled ass-beating. You just wish you could kill him, but there's none of that mutual respect kismesis are apparently supposed to have in your brain, despite what the clown thinks.

You try not to think about it.

...

When you see Rose, you nearly burst into tears.

You've never been overly-emotional, but you suppose you have a lot of pent up feelings you've been repressing. 

You hurry over and run your hands over every inch of her, assessing her well-being. She takes your hands in hers and offers you a reassuring smile. "I assure you, Kanaya, I'll live." There's an intense sadness in her eyes so you pull her close, trying to convey everything you lack the words for currently. You both lay back on the bed and although she is silent, you can feel violent sobs wracking her body. You draw circles on her back with your claws until the motions cease. You pull back and look into her eyes, wiping the tears away. 

You tell her about your duties. "It seems her Lusus wants her to bring back our people. We are to prepare the matriorb, but create more of our species in the meantime using cloning. It seems we will act as…" You pause. You and Rose had discussed raising young trolls or humans in the new world. You thought you would eventually come into this role due to the color of your blood, but the idea seems to have lost its charm. "… Lusus to the grubs."

She cradles your face with a hand. "I know you'll do great," she tells you, eyes shining. "Maybe you'll build the foundations for a less barbaric society."

"I hope so. The issue is, as much as I want to resurrect our race, doing so under her tyrannical rule seems imprudent."

What you fear most of all is that once the first group of Trolls reach your age, the Condesce will no longer have any use for you.

...

  
  


You've had a lot of time to mourn your friends.

With Kanaya gone most of the time, and no one else around for company, you spend your days in a melancholy daze. Your thoughts often drift to John, who you had missed so dearly for the past three years but only seen briefly before his demise. This, of course, brings the image of Jade ripping him apart to the forefront of your mind. In a sense, you suppose Jade is dead too, so you grieve her as well. Thinking of Terezi opens a whole other box of worries about Karkat and Dave, and considering any of the other humans leaves you feeling uneasy. You're not quite sure what happened to any of them, but you hope they escaped.

You spend the rest of your time using your Seer powers. You sit on your bed and sort through all possible outcomes, but find yourself lost in the hopelessness. The scenarios in which you escape are few and far between, and the path to them lies completely out of your control. You cannot even tell if your teenage mom is alive at this point since she's alive in one vision and dead in the next. You're trying to keep a hold on your mental health, but it's been rapidly deteriorating. You don't even have any drinks to numb the feeling.

You just feel like you're drowning.

...

So far, the grubs you cloned have been doing well.

You've been raising them in a cave on Jane's planet since the climate is better than Alternia's was during the day. The little fucks mostly roll around and make too much noise, and you'll never admit this to Kanaya, but they're kind of cute. You look over the twelve of them and you're just glad none of them have the same candy red hue running through your blood-pusher. You're also glad none of them seem to be heirs, cause you're pretty sure the Condesce would cull a fuchsia blood on site. After about a perigee Kanaya decides you should probably name them. You're trying to decide about the two bronze bloods when Kanaya approaches you with a bundle in her arms. You swallow hard when you see what's inside.

"I was thinking," she says nervously, "you may want to name her." You take the Teal blood and look into her small, beady eyes. You wonder if Terezi would want to be remembered through another Troll. Suddenly you feel sick. You thrust her back into Kanaya's hands and abscond.

Later, you tell Dave about it.

"Well," his sunglasses are off for once so you can see the uncertainty in his eyes. "She was one of a kind, bro. Like, she couldn't even handle it when she got her sight back. Unless you're planning on letting your troll kids maim each other, I don't think any of them could live up to her legacy, you know?"

You pap Dave and he tells you how fucking gay that was and before you know it, you're engaged in one of your classic no-teeth arguments.

But yeah, you do know. 

...

Gamzee kicked your ass so hard your ears are ringing.

After you head butted him when he tried to kiss you, he came after you with a vengeance. For the grand finale he threw you into the wall. You're laying there, trying to clear your head when you realize, the thumping you're hearing isn’t in your head.

It's coming from behind you.

You shake your head and listen. It's morse code.

_Dave Dave Dave Dave_

You knock back a tentative reply. _Rose_

_Oh good it is you._ You let out a huge sigh of relief. She swore learning morse code on the meteor was a huge waste of time, but you had nothing better to do. _What was that sound?_

_Oh you know just the clown throwing me into a wall._

_Sounds fun._ _He's a pervert._

_Tell me about it. He keeps trying to mack on me._

_Ew._

_Yeah._

_He just makes rude gestures at me._ She pauses. You strain to listen. _How are you?_

You consider the question. _Better than John._

You spend the next six hours and forty-two minutes remembering your friends _._ You fall asleep against the wall, fist raised to reply.

...

Jade is assigned to guard you and Karkat today.

Against your better judgement, you decide to engage her to deduce how intact her personality remains. You ask her to hold one of the grubs. She carefully sniffs it before accepting the bundle, posture uncomfortable. You leave to grab food for it and when you return, she is rocking the grub and cooing. The grub looks pleased. When you and Karkat are talking about it in the corner, you turn around to find she has surrounded herself with the twelve grubs, laughing and playing with each of them.

It somehow makes you feel worse.

...

You're laying in bed when you hear a strange noise from outside.

"Psst. Hey, mom." You shoot up in bed and make your way to the window. The teenage version of your mom is floating on the other side of the bars, clad in the blue god tier robes you saw her in before.

"Mom?" You question, clutching the bars, staring out in wonder. You have so many questions. "How are you alive?"

"Well, um, it's kind of a long story. I didn't know what to do when everyone started disappearing, and Janey was acting all weird so, I kind of hid? I know it was stupid of me but—"

"No," you interrupt. "You did the right thing." You can't imagine what would have happened if she had tried to fight Jade. "Please, continue."

"So basically I've been doing a lot of Recon and gathering the sprites to try a jailbreak, but I'm trying to figure out a good plan cause so far my plans have sucked. My first jailbreak didn't go too hot cause Jane's watching Jake like a hawk cause he’s supposed to be her husband or something, and another time when Arquiusprite and I tried to hack Janey's tiara she killed him. Dirk tries to help, but he's not stealthy so your friend Jade keeps teleporting him to the outer rim or wherever." She kind of deflates for a second, then perks back up with a grin. "But now that I know you and Dave are alive, I'm gonna try extra hard to get everyone out!" She's so sincere and hopeful it lifts your spirits. You take a deep breath and try to _see_ the best plan.

"Okay," you tell her. "I have an idea."

...

When you enter Dave's cell, it smells like blood. 

You find him in the ablution trap surrounded by floating tendrils of his bright blood. You slam the door shut behind you and he peers at you through the slits in his eyes. One of them is purple and swelling, likely limiting Dave's vision. "Oh hey," he says casually.

  
"Hey?" You yell. "Is that all you have to say? What the fuck happened?" He presses his lips together in a thin line, then sinks below the water. You groan and move to sit on the load gaper. You both know who did it, he's just being an asshole. 

He pokes his head back up, blushing. "Uh, can you actually get my hair cause I don't think my arms are gonna move that far back."

"Fine, whatever." You gesture towards the soap. Dave smirks.

"Maybe you should take your shirt off, Karkat, it's gonna get wet." You roll your eyes and comply. He scans your body with his good eye, lingering on the uncovered skin. "I don't know, your pants might need to go too."

"I fucking hate you." You're just in your boxers now. You grab the soap and ignore Dave's smug look, lathering up your hands and plunging them into his hair.

Dave hums in response, and seems placated for a minute. Then, he opens his fucking mouth. "That's a pretty bad angle you have there. You should probably just get in the tub with me, it'll make it easier."

After a couple minutes of hissing at Dave about the bloody water, and him laughing at you despite the pain it causes him, you climb in behind Dave. He leans back into your chest and closes his eyes. You're content listening to his responses to your ministrations.

"Terezi would've loved the 'candy red' water," you joke quietly.

"Yeah," Dave sighs. "She would've climbed right in."

...

Rose has been knocking urgently ever since Gamzee left your room.

You pull yourself up from your—gross, bloody—bed and sink down on the wall. _What_ _?_

_My mom and your brother are alive. We have a plan._

_..._

You're laying in bed, feigning sleep when she speaks.

"What's wrong?" Rose asks. She turns to face you. "Everything is going to happen according to plan, I know it."

You sigh. "I know we will be out of this horrid place soon, and I know logically that it will all be alright, but I cannot help but fear… If anything were to happen to you, Rose, I do not know what I would do. I do not want to lose you." 

She curls into you, entwining your legs together. "You won't."

...

About two hours before the Drones usually come to get Kanaya, Dirk Strider bursts into the wall between your and Dave's room.

You and your girlfriend jump to your feet, nodding to the anime boy standing in the rubble. Dave and Karkat emerge from the other side. You give your brother a quick hug before turning to the rest of the humans. Your mom and Jane and Jake are floating outside of the cells, ready to bounce.

_"If we lure Janey away while Jade's dealing with your gf, then Dirk and I can do some hax and get her tiara off."_

" _Thats good," you had said, "because we'll need her for the next part."_

As predicted, Jade appears, barking mad. "Get back in your cells right now!" She has just enough time to look shocked before normal Jane throws down a red mouse and the first guardian pounces on it. Jade bristles at the sight of the cat and immediately gives chase. That gets her off of your back.

You hold Kanaya bridal style and join your fellow humans in flight. You hear Karkat yelling at Dave behind you about 'manhandling' and you feel true joy for the first time in awhile. You can only hope it stays.

You land on the Condesce's ship and Roxy and Dirk start giving everyone their weapons. "Damn, it's like Christmas day up in here, handing out presents left and right," Dave remarks. Karkat rolls his eyes and Roxy laughs. Dirk just looks kind of overwhelmed.

Your group makes its way through the halls until you find a particularly unwelcome challenger. Gamzee's standing in the middle of the hallway in his stupid god tier costume, grinning like the deranged lunatic he is. Jane and Dirk move to handle him, but Karkat holds out a hand to stop them. He, Dave and Kanaya descend on the clown. The rest of you are poised, ready to back them up if need be. Your readiness is unnecessary, however, and their strife ends with Karkat stabbing the clown's corpse over and over until Dave pulls him into his chest and holds him there. After a few moments, you continue forward, making sure to stomp on Gamzee's body as you pass over it. You don't care that you were flying, it was a necessary measure.

You turn to Kanaya, gripping her hand fiercely. "I love you," you tell her. You know she knows, but you need to say it now, just in case.

"I love you too," she replies, squeezing your hand reassuringly. You surge forward and kiss her with everything you have, because it could very well be the last time.

You know the Condesce is at the end of this hall, and you know there are only two outcomes for this fight. But honestly, you're just glad to be by Kanaya's side, even if it ends in death.

**Author's Note:**

> I was thinking about writing this with Terezi still alive, but I decided against it. Let me know if you'd be interested in that!
> 
> Also sorry for the ambiguous ending but it's a doomed timeline so I didn't wanna make it too hopeful you know?


End file.
